Florida Wildlife

I love the outdoors. I love to be outside (except for during the summer months when the Florida heat is oppressive) but I hate all the creepy crawlies that come with being outdoors. More importantly I can not stand when the creepy crawlies decide to invade my home. It is inevitable that while living in the south you will have the occasional (or not so) palmetto bug, roach or spider in your home. I once even had an opossum venture into an apartment where I was living. However, in the 12 years I have lived here I have yet to have a single rodent in my home. Until the other day.

After coming back from the beach the other day, I walked into the kitchen to find a tiny little mouse. It's beady little eyes met mine before it scurried under the oven. I. Don't. Do. Pest. Control. Period. I immediately summoned the Captain, who followed me into the kitchen full of disbelief. I don't think he really believed me until he saw it with his own eyes. Our furry little friend, seemingly fearless, was scampering around the kitchen looking for any crumb to feast upon. We immediately agreed that keeping it secret from the Big One was our best bet and that he would head out to the nearest store to purchase traps. Of course the Big One wanted to go with her daddy, so the jig was up.

While they were gone, the tiny little fur ball was on the move. I saw emerge from under the oven and start running all over the kitchen. I frantically tried to come up with a plan, my sole mission to keep the vermin from heading into one of the bedrooms. I quickly went from room to room shutting the doors all the while trying to keep my eyes trained on the nasty little creature.  For a split second, it was out of my sight. When I returned to the kitchen, the tiny little rodent had disappeared.

Once the Captain returned home with the traps, he baited them with peanut butter and set them out. Anxiously I sat in the living room, nervously glancing into the kitchen from time to time looking for any sign of the mouse, hoping to hear the snap of the trap. The Captain was reading the Big One her bedtime stories when I heard her say "Daddy, the mouse!" I sprang up off the couch and in what seemed like a single leap was in her room. And there it was, peeking it's tiny little nose out from behind her dresser. The Captain jumped up off her bed and grabbed a towel. He pushed the dresser close to the wall forcing the creature out and grabbed it up and brought it outside. Phew! Crisis averted, and thankfully I knew I would at least be able to sleep that night knowing we were pest free. The next morning, the traps were empty, so I was confident that our single rodent issue was solved.

Until.... I started hearing the pans in the drawer under the oven shifting. I informed the Captain that I didn't think our rodent problem was solved. But still we went on about our business, no sightings of beady little eyes or hairy little tails, just the sound of shifting pans.

Yesterday, the Captain came in from the garage wide-eyed. "You're not going to believe what I just saw!! The m-o-u-s-e! It was right outside the door!" You've got to be kidding me! And then last night, our furry little friend reappeared. The traps were baited again with peanut butter and set out. This morning when I got up with the Little One, I cautiously walked into the kitchen hoping to see a little tail peeking out from under one of the traps. No such luck. Every trap was empty. Before leaving for work, the Captain moved all the traps into cabinets (the Big One has no idea the mouse has returned- or that there is more than one in the house) and when he came home, he found them all- yup you guessed it EMPTY!

So, now it's about time to set them out in plain view again. I have yet to see the creature tonight, but have heard it rummaging around the kitchen. I only go into the kitchen when it's absolutely necessary and it is with great trepidation that I open any of the cabinets. The Captain has a plan to buy baited traps if we come up empty handed after tonight. I can't stand knowing that there is something roaming around my house while I am sleeping and the possibility that it could crawl on one of us, just makes my skin crawl. Now Mama's on a mission to rid her home of the pesky vermin. Any suggestions?